Z-fold Joy

Well, my Christmas class schedule is in full swing!  Last night I ran a Stamp-A-Stack in Dundas for a fun group of scrapbooking friends.  We did 12 cards and had lots of laughs!  Here is one of the cards I designed for that class...

Elegant holiday card using The Sounding Joy, Bright Hopes and Christmas Greetings stamp sets.

Open view.

I have to say I was really happy with the way this one turned out.  I was going for something that would come together fairly quickly and easily but that would still provide the WOW factor.  I turned, once again to that gorgeous Mocha Morning DSP for inspiration, added richness with the cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon and an antique brad and viola...quick and easy Christmas card!
Today is all about the gift tags...I have my class tomorrow night and need to prep 120 tags this afternoon!  I hope your Sunday is a little less busy than mine will be!

Its Time...

...for me to stop commenting on how fast time is flying by these days, I know; but really, where is the month going?  Here it is the 18th and I'm still on the 4th in my head!  It sometimes scares me just how fast our lives can pass by.  This week is another busy one...and so I again have had little time to stamp; however I did whip up a cute little card last night for a stamp-a-stack I am teaching tomorrow evening.  More on that later...for now I have a card I made a while back that my SAS hostess also requested we make tomorrow night.  Have a look...

Holiday card using Letters to Santa DSP and the Tree Trimmings stamp set.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Inside of card using the sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set.

I designed this card intending to use it for a techniques class on masking.  I stamped the green ornament on the front of the card and then masked it while I stamped the red and brown ones.  The result gives the illusion of depth.  The rest of the card is fairly straightforward as it features some of the gorgeous patterns on the Letters to Santa DSP.  I finished it off with a bit of old olive satin ribbon and a real red glimmer brad to add a bit of sparkle.
On a completely different note, I just wanted to remind everyone of my upcoming Mini Album class on Saturday, October 29th at 9:30 am.  This little album makes a beautiful Christmas gift for just about anyone, but is especially appreciated by grandmas (my mom gets one with photos of my son ever year).  There is still room remaining if you would like to join us.  For further details click HERE.

FINALLY Stamping Again!

Well, tonight I finally got down to my stamping corner and inked up some rubber.  It sure felt good to be creative again!  My life has just been WAY too hectic lately...it can't be healthy to not have time to stamp, can it?  In any case, tonight I sat down to design the projects for one of my monthly clubs which is meeting this Sunday afternoon.  They requested that I do Christmas cards using stamp sets and punches that they already own.  Since they are relatively new stampers, that really limited my options, so this was a challenge!  Knowing that the Snow Swirled set is in the stash of several of the ladies, I decided to focus my energy on that set.  I designed two cards using it, but am only showing you one tonight...I have to save the other for tomorrow...who knows when I'll get to stamp again!  So, here, without further excuses, is today's card:

CAS Holiday card using the Snow Swirled set.

Inside of card with sentiment from the Christmas Greetings set.

Could this get any simpler??  I tried to keep my embellishments to a minimum on this one, but couldn't resist adding those glimmer brads...they just add such a nice touch of sparkle!  The colour combo is one of my new favourites and is inspired by the holiday decorations (yes, its true) that are popping up in stores about now.  These bold, bright colours are just fabulous together and really pop against the white background.  In case you're wondering, the colours are: rich razzleberry, marina mist and lucky limeade.  On the inside of the card I punched the sentiment out with the 1 3/4" scalloped circle punch (one I know my club members own) and then notched every other scallop with my paper snips.  I then punched a 1/16" hole in the un-notched scallops in an attempt to make the circle look a bit snowflake-ish.  I think it works, especially with the snowflake images stamped behind it. 
I hope my ladies like this card...they're pretty traditional green and red Christmas gals, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to show them something a little bit off the wall.  Tomorrow I'll have my second Snow Swirled card for you...and best of all...its FRIDAY!

Dasher-ing towards Christmas

This time of year is busy for we crafters...so many great holiday craft and gift ideas and so little time to complete them!  As this is my first Christmas as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I had no idea just how crazy things can get with clients and new customers wanting to hold workshops and Stamp-A-Stacks.  I have been spending all of my crafting time cutting paper and prepping for various events and have had almost no time to create anything for myself!  If only I didn't have a full-time teaching job during the day!  Ah well, the Christmas break will be here soon and I'll have a full week off to get my Christmas crafting done!

Today's post is a card I created for one of the Stamp-A-Stack classes I held last week.

Simple card using the Dasher a la carte stamp.

Close up of Dasher...isn't he a handsome fella?

Sentiment is from the Contempo Christmas set.  I used one of the big designer buttons in Baja Breeze to embellish it.

Inside of card.  Snowflake images are from Serene Snowflakes.  Sentiment is from Christmas Greetings.

This card came together as I was prepping for my SAS and realized I was out of Cherry Cobbler cardstock!  I didn't have enough to do the card I had planned to, so I had to think fast and come up with something that used the supplies I had enough of on hand.  I was quite happy with the way it turned out and my SAS guests liked it too!  Here is what I did:

I started with a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of baja breeze cardstock.  I stamped the snowflakes all over the top half using baja breeze ink.  I adhered a 3" x 4" piece of Candy Cane DSP to the bottom half of the baja breeze piece.  I then punched a 4" wide piece of whisper white with my dotted scallop ribbon border and adhered it over the seam.  I added a piece of 1/8" taffeta ribbon in real red and adhered it to the back of the cardfront.  I adhered the whole thing to a real red card base. 
For the focal image I stamped Dasher in baja breeze on whisper white cardstock, punched him out with a 2" circle punch and then sponged the edge with baja breeze ink.  I layered this on a 2 3/8" scallop circle in baja breeze and a 2 1/2" circle in real red and adhered the finished piece using dimensionals.  I added a little rhinestone gem to one of the snowflakes for some sparkle.
For the sentiment I coloured the Merry Christmas from the Contempo Christmas set using my baja breeze and real red markers, stamped it on whisper white and then punched it out using my decorative label punch.  I layered this on another decorative label in real red and adhered it to the cardfront using dimensionals.  I threaded some 1/8" taffeta riboon through a big designer button in baja breeze and tied it in a knot.  I adhered it to the upper right corner of the sentiment using glue dots. 
The inside of the card is fairly self-explanatory.  I stamped the snowflakes in baja breeze and sponged the edges of the white before I adhered the white piece to the inside of the card.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Greetings set and is stamped in real red and then punched out using the decorative label punch again.  It is sponged using baja breeze, layered on another real red label and then adhered inside the card using dimensionals.
A cute card using one of my favourite holiday images!

Long time, no post!

I always have the best of intentions...I wake up each day with a plan for everything I have to get done in the 24 hours I have till the next morning and part of that daily plan is always to create and post something for this blog.  Unfortunately, my plans this week haven't done me much good!  I just haven't had time to stamp between parent meetings at school and workshops for Stampin' Up!, my poor stamping corner has been sadly empty.  I did manage to get down there last night for a bit but was struggling to come up with something worthy of a post.  I think I was just too tired to be creative!  Here is the card I did, though I'm not thrilled with it...I just couldn't seem to get it right!  See what you think...

The image on this card is from a retired set called "Wandering Words".  The sentiment is from the current Just Believe set.

I've had the idea to use this sentiment with a Santa image for a while...I think it is very appropriate!

The snowflake is from the Merry Details sizzlet.

Clean and simple inside of card.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Greeting set.

So...not the greatest thing I've ever done, but its ok.  I started by sponging the entire card front using Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy and Night of Navy ink.  Then I did direct to paper with my Versmark pad over the entire thing.  I sprinkled Iridescent Ice embossing powder over it all and heat embossed it.  I was going for a glistening-snow-Milky-Way-kinda thing.  Then, on a separate piece of white cardstock I stamped the Santa and his reindeer image in Versamark and heat embossed it using silver embossing powder.  I cut it out and then sponged it using Night of Navy ink.  Then I sponged it again with champagne shimmer paint, so that it would blend against the sky a bit better.  I adhered it to the background using dimensionals.  For the snowflake, I ran the merry details sizzlet through my Big Shot with whisper white cardstock.  I sponged the snowflake with champagne shimmer paint to give it some life and added a rhinestone in the centre.  I adhered it in the upper left corner using a dimensional.  The sentiment is stamped using Night of Navy ink.  I then embossed the word "believed" in silver.  I punched it out using my decorative label punch and matted it with another decorative label in brushed silver.  I added some rhinestones to highlight the sentiment.  Before adhering it, I wrapped a piece of silver tinsel (yes, its back!) around the card front and adhered it using sticky strip and glue dots.  Then I attached the sentiment using dimensionals.  The whole card front is adhered to a Night of Navy card base the edges of which I sponged with champagne shimmer paint.  Because of the weight of the embossing, I adhered the cardfront to the base using sticky strip to ensure it stayed in place.
The inside of the card is straightforward and simple.  I sponged the edges of a piece of whisper white cardstock using marina mist ink.   I stamped the sentiment in night of navy on a separate piece of white cardstock and punched it out using the decorative label punch.  I matted it on another marina mist decorative label and adhered it inside the card using dimensionals.  I stamped the Santa image in versamark along the bottom edge.
As I said, its not my favourite card ever, but it was the best I could do after a long and busy week.  I'm looking forward to the weekend and some time to recharge my batteries!

Jammin' Stampers Colour Challenge

Last week, my upline, Jamilla Ivits, issued a challenge to our team.  She just got the Colour Coach (after hearing the rest of us rave about it!) and challenged each of us to create a Christmas card using one of the Bashful Blue combinations from the Coach.  I am always up for a challenge and so I got busy last night on my card.  We are to bring them to our team meeting on Tuesday but I just have to share it now...I can't wait till then!  Here is what I came up with...

Greeting Card Kids Christmas Card

Close up of the adorable focal image.

Close up of the sentiment

Inside of Greeting Card Kids card

I just love these Greeting Card Kids!  I've had this set for a while (since the new catty came out) but haven't used this image yet.  When I looked at the colour options for our challenge, I knew I had to use this stamp.  The colours are Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi and Rose Red...these colours are soft and sweet, just like this little girl!  I stamped the image in Staz-On on watercolour paper and then coloured it in using my ink pads and blender pens.  I added little touches of Gold Lamme Smooch accent ink to the tree and the buttons on her coat (it doesn't really show up in the photo).  I then punched her out using my 2 3/8" scalloped circle punch and then notched every other scallop to give a snowflake effect. I also added little dots of Smooch to the notched I layered another scalloped circle punch in Bashful Blue behind it and mounted it to the cardfront using dimensionals.  For the background, I used one of the Wild Wasabi patterns from the subtles DSP stack and then stamped snowflakes from the Snow Swirled set in Wild Wasabi all over.  I again added little dots of Smooch to the snowflakes to add some shimmer.  I punched the corners using the Ticket Corner punch and then layered it on Bashful Blue and then Rose Red cardstock.  The ribbon is adhered using Sticky Strip and ruffled at the top of the cardfront.  The whole thing is mounted on a Wild Wasabi card base.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Greeting set and is stamped in Wild Wasabi on Very Vanilla cardstock.  I punched it out using my large oval punch and then layered it on a scalloped oval in Rose Red.  I layered that on Wild Wasabi wide oval and a Bashful Blue decorative label.  I was a little Smooch happy last night and so I added more dots to the scallops on the Rose Red layer!  The inside of the card uses the verse from the Christmas Greeting set and the snowflakes from Snow Swirled.  The layers are pretty much the same as on the front of the card.  I restrained myself from adding more Smooch to the inside...though I was tempted!